Distortion, donation, divestment, definition, concern

Distorts Issue

In defending Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-San Francisco) sophomoric attempt to conduct diplomacy, Democrats for Israel Los Angeles President Andrew Lachman distorts the issue by referencing my recent visit to Syria and comments he falsely alleges I made praising Hezbollah (Letters, April 27).

Mr. Lachman repeats reports from Iranian and Syrian news agencies from 2001 that I had praised Hezbollah at a press conference during a visit to Syria. These same news agencies that spew hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric against Israel and against America are ignored by most Westerners but apparently not by Mr. Lachman.

In 2001, Jewish Defense League members Irv Rubin and Earl Kreugel were arrested by the FBI and later convicted for planning a terrorist attack on one of my district offices, following these false reports that were parroted by an American Web columnist. Mr. Lachman’s use of these false reports, which were contradicted by the Associated Press and other Western news agencies that attended the same press conference as the Syrian and Iranian news agencies, is reprehensible.

Furthermore, I did not travel to Syria to deliver a public slap to the Bush administration or to deliver any fictitious peace message from Israel. In my meetings, I raised serious and substantive problems that the U.S. has with Syria in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria’s continued support for Palestinian terrorist organizations.

Finally, unlike Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I have never had the Israeli government, nor that of any other nation, issue a rebuttal for my making an erroneous and irresponsible statement.

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista, Calif.)

Ultimate Donors

The faculty and staff at Touro College Los Angeles would like to express our congratulations regarding the mention of Zachary Taylor in the recent featured article, “The Ultimate Donors” (May 4). We are proud to have Zach as a Touro student, and we wish him much success in his future endeavors.

Samira Miller
Touro College Los Angeles,
Office of Admissions

Iran Divestment Bill

As The Journal’s recent articles point out, there is widespread support for legislation — of which I am a co-author — that would require California’s pension funds to divest from companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector, AB 221 (“Jews, Muslims Unite Behind Iran Divestment Bill,” April 27).

When the bill came before us in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, however, one of AB 221’s principal opponents argued that the sanction of divestiture should be reserved for “extreme” situations. If exporting terror throughout the most volatile region in the world and threatening to annihilate Israel (while seeking nuclear capability) do not constitute an extreme situation, I don’t know what does.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles)

Definition of a Jew

Jerry Katz’s belief that Hitler used matrilineal descent to define Jewishness is incorrect (Letters, May 4). In the Nuremberg Laws (1935), the Nazis defined a Jew as anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. The State of Israel adopted the same definition, since part of its raison d’etre was to provide haven to persecuted Jews. The halacha, of course, is not in alignment with Hitler, may his name be erased.

David Waghalter
Los Angeles

Concern for JCC

We add our expression of concern at the prospect of the closing of the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center (“Valley Cities JCC Property Deal Falls Through,” May 4).

For the past two years, the center has rented us classroom space for our extension program in the eastern part of the Valley. A hundred students from public schools have benefited as part of a government-funded program, which Huntington Learning Center operates. These students get three months of private and individualized instruction in the language arts or math skills essential to success in school.

We are proud of the progress these students have made and we thank the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center and its staff for their assistance in this venture.

The benefit to the Jewish community is equally great. These children in grades K through 12 come from diverse backgrounds, both ethnically and religiously, and for many of them and their parents, it is the first opportunity to be in a facility under any kind of Jewish auspices. Fifteen years after the Rodney King riots, we are all too aware of the value of such positive interaction.

This has been a great added value for the greater Los Angeles Jewish community and one more reason to keep the center open.

Ofra and Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg
The Huntington Learning Center
Encino

Bullying in School

Having had a child at a Jewish high school who wished to address issues of bullying and verbal abuse a few years ago, I must take issue with a picture painted by your article (“Safety Trumps Privacy When It Comes to Mental Health,” April 27).

Roger Fuller’s description of a “proactive approach” on campus was not our family’s experience. In fact, when our child, who having attended Jewish day school his entire life, did not find an advocate in any of the administration during his seventh- through early 10th-grade years, he left for public school.

He was told by teachers, advisers and administrators that bullying, verbal abuse and intimidation were not a problem. Of course, students know better. Students always know better because they live it each day.

I urge every school, whether it be public, private, secular or religious, Jewish or not, to pay attention to its students — all of them. They hear, see and notice everything. To have had a child’s concerns and fears discounted was unconscionable, and to have it occur at a Jewish day school was heartbreaking.

Name withheld on request
via e-mail

Librescu Coverage

I’ll be brief. Thanks for covering professor Liviu Librescu. A great job and much appreciated. We’ll be reciting Kaddish at our shul for the coming year, and I am buying a memorial plaque for the Wall of Memories in our lobby (“Berserkers,” April 20). Nice job.